The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-09-28
THE INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE And COLLEGE
The Good Already Accomplished
An Institution to be Priced and
Preserved.

| RAYMOND, Sept. %, 1887.
| EDITOR CLARION: As the third ses-
sion of the Industrial Institute of Col
umbus is now beginning. it is not, per-
haps, out of place for an observer to say
a few words as to the manifest good al
ready effected by this institution, al
though still in its infancy.
| During a summer spent in the rural
districts, it has been your correspond
ent's good fortune to meet several young
women who have so far profited by this
excellent institution as to have obtained
for themselves not only "a sound and
sensible education, built on the founda-
tions laid by our public schools, but
who have also fitted themselves by a
special study Of some particular branch
to earn their own living, when either as
maids, wives or widows, circumstances
may call on them to do so. In all in
stances these we're daughters of men
who could not possibly have procured
for them any greater advantages than
are afforded by the nearest public school,
which, though good enough as far as it
| goes, by no means fits woman to be a
bread-winner. know of no State instj-
tuition so worthy of cordial public
support as this, as none seems likely to
bring so direct benefit to all sorts and
| conditions OF men. The crustiest old
| bachelor will find the calls on him for
charitable purposes greatly diminished
| when the helplessness of women is re-
duced to a minimum. 10 fathers of
| sons who desire well-trained and helpful
| daughters-in-law, it is as desirable as to
| fathers of daughters who can feel a
Il af Il. L.
which overwhelms a father when he
pictures his orphan girls, trampled down
in the struggle for positions as school
teachers, driven to the lingering suicide
of the needle. / am informed on credi-
table autho rity that a tax of nineteen
cents on every one thousand dollars
worth of property in the State will hand
somely support this institution. Let
each man consider how terribly his
neighbors undervalue their property in
the assessment rolls, and he will gladly
pay this amount on his own Just valua-
ton In order that the young women of
our State may hold their own against
those of every other. | trust it may
soon be an unheard-of thing for Missis-
sippians to send out of their own State
to obtain competent female labor in any
/ NaPo$ASys anu that III tnC uG-
partments in Washington and elsewhere.
Mississippi may obtain her fair share of
clerkships, ETC., for her daughters.
hear great cry OF economy raised
in order to put down this noble institu-
ton. Heaven knows the women of this
State would gladly economic in any
way the men might point out, if by so
doing its future maintenance might be
assured. / do not speak now of the ia
yored leaders of fashion in the few and
small towns which Mississippi boasts.
but in travelling through the rural dis
tricts have yet to find a woman who it
seemed to me could push economy any
further than she did. While as to the
men-the voters-what they spend in |
tobacco alone would support three such |
colleges as this, and the tobacco tar |
which each man pays cheerfully, would |
run this one college in style. But it is |
with self-scorn that l appeal to these
lower motives. Men of Mississippi. |
you owe US this in return for |
all we do and have done for YOU.
Whose labor helps to support Oxford and |
Starkville? Whose hands and hearts /
support you through woe and veal? On /
whose shoulders do you lay the half of |
your burdens? To whom do you turn
for advice, counsel, help, love, pity, for
givineness, tears, blame, kisses, smiles? |
And shall you deliberately say to those
on whom you rely for half your
strength. Minds, rust out in hopeless
ignorance; hearts, ache on in helpless
poverty; backs. bow down in hardest
toil-nor look to US for any aid. While
East and West vie with each other in
building and endowing colleges for wo-
men, let those of Mississippi look for no
of their lot, no lifting of
their burden. Do not all men know
that such a course brings its own curse
with it-that as the mothers of the Re.
public are, so will its sons be; that she
who rocks the cradle rules the world; /,
and if to your posterity you give igno-
rant, narrow minded, superstitlous
mothers, with ignoble aims and useless
hands, in so much will you condemn
POUR children to lower position among
The sons of the nation than they should
hold.
Not ten women Of average intellect in
his State desire female suffrage. This .
question has never taken any bold in j
he South because our women believe j
hat their inteFests are looked after. | i
hair rights respected, their liberties e.